- Scheitholt
The scheitholt or scheitholz is a traditional German stringed instrument and an ancestor of the modern zither. It falls into the category of drone zithers.
History
The Scheitholt may have derived from an ancient Greek instrument for theoretical education in music and physics, the so called monochord (an oblong wooden box with only one string). Scheitholt originally referred to firewood cut into logs (Scheit = "piece, chip"; Holz or lower German Holt = "wood"). Since the 16th century at the latest, the instrument came to be called by this name, presumably because it had a similar shape or size. The best known description of this instrument is by Michael Praetorius in 1619. A number of regional names for the instrument exist.'Hummel' is the predominant Northern German name, meaning "bumble-bee" (a reference to the humming sound of the drone sounds. Note that the same name was also used of a small kind of German bag pipe for the same reason). In the Bavarian/Austrian region the Scheitholt can be traced back to the 14th century.The fact that similar instruments are found in Asia as well may suggest that there was a common ancestor from the Caucasus that was brought west to central Europe in the Migration Period.
Description
The original scheitholt usually consisted of a wooden soundbox about 50 centimeters long and five centimeters wide, with a simple peghead and two or three strings. Besides brass, these strings were often also made of simple materials such as animal hairs, gut or waxed linen. A fingerboard in the usual sense was missing, but wires were set in the wood under the strings as frets. Beginning in the 16th and 17th centuries the Scheitholte had three to four strings. In the further development the size of the soundbox was increased, and an independent fingerboard was glued on. From the Scheitholt with a change of form the Kratzzither or Scherrzither developed around the mid-18th century.
Playing
The Scheitholt was played similarly to today's zither. It was placed horizontally on a table or on the thighs, the left hand pressed the strings with a wooden stock, while the thumb and index finger plucked the strings either directly, or with a horn or wooden plectrum, or with a goose quill. Some strings functioned as drones.
The scheitholt and/or hummel was played well into the 19th century in the alpine regions, in south Germany, in northern Germany, in the Erz Mountains of Saxony and in the Oberlausitz. [ [http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de/MUSEUM/zith_scheitholt.htm Andreas Michel: Scheitholt und frühe Formen der Kratzzither] ]
Literature and websites
* Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München (Hrsg.): "Das Tiroler Raffele und die Allgäuer Scherrzither", September 1990
* [http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de/MUSEUM/zith_scheitholt.htm Andreas Michel: Scheitholt und frühe Formen der Kratzzither] de iconReferences
ee also
*
Appalachian dulcimer
*Epinette des Vosges
*Hummel (instrument)
*Langeleik
*Langspil
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